Video Review: R5 "Let's Not Be Alone Tonight"

The panel speeds in, with a white border framing lead singer Ross as he adjusts the collars on his jackets and sings into the microphone. Another panel slides in, with electric blue lines resembling a graph as he plays the guitar. Lavender slides shoot across the screen, broken up into violet squares and rectangles.

In the split screen, Ross plays the guitar in a violet box as a band member pulls his hair in an olive green box. It switches as Rydel plays the keyboards in a rusty yellow box and her face shown in lavender. It moves to her heels, in olive green with a white border around it.

In the electric blue, Ross and then Rydel plays in the center box as Rydel’s fingers on shown on the side and another band member is in violet. A violet box emerges from the screen and put through the shredder as Ross sings. It returns to the full screen, in normal colors, with a white border.

Ross’s face is shown in rectangular slides of violet and electric blue which leads to the band playing in cutouts of mauve with some shredded pieces of olive green in the corner.

The colors begin to merge. The outer layers of the frame on Ross is the electric face while his face remains a rusty yellow. Then it returns to the band in the bubblegum pink. Ellington playing the drums in olive green and Ross again, in the rusty yellow.

Rydel plays the keyboards in the violet as the lines moves, representing radio waves. It changes through the usual pattern of colors as the band members play.

Each band member gets a color as the lights dim, turning their figures into shadows against the light shades. It then returns back to normal.

On stage, the lights dim as the background turns beige and then to a charcoal gray. Ross’ head shrinks in the frame as it closes in as the bright light becomes blinding.

The purple rectangle flies up the screen and follows the usual pattern of colors for each band members.

Within the violet, Ellington screams and his face pops out of the frame. Rydel pulls her hand out. Ross closes his eyes and lets his microphone swing out. Ellington hits the drum, which is out of frame. Ross tosses out his guitar pick within the rusty yellow as the band finishes playing.

Rating: 0/5

It’s a Windows Power Point presentation created to persuade investors to invest. Through the presentation, R5 is pitched as youthful band, painted through pastels and cutout images sliding through the screen.

However, the pastel color scheme seems to have been designed with a female solo singer in mind who was dropped and the band was left with the leftover material, inserting their own slides to create a video. With a mostly all-male band, the callow pattern is gangly and affected. As the light dims and the colors become neutral, only then the color scheme matures and bonds with the band, making it a seemless transition.

The overused three-dimensional effect is effective the first time when Elllington bangs his head. It’s unexpected and somehow, it seems measured in the correct manner where it matches up within the frame. When the others follow, it extends past the frame, cutting off the their body part or object in the process.